the heaps of ash.

Surabaya is larger than Batavia and has a population of more than one
hundred and fifty thousand. But Surabaya has not much trade with Europe;
its commerce is mainly with the ports of Asia. The harbor is good and it
has become the chief naval station of the Dutch East Indies.

The Dutch authorities do not encourage visitors to Java. All visitors
must have passports or permits; and if one goes to the interior,
officials question him at every turn and demand his permit at every
district.

CHAPTER XXXIII

THE DUTCH EAST INDIES--SUMATRA AND CELEBES

Two lofty mountain ranges with a deep valley between them lie at the
eastern side of the Indian Ocean. The Malay Peninsula is one range; the
island of Sumatra is the other. The floor of the valley between them is
covered by the sea and forms the Strait of Malacca.

As islands go, Sumatra is of goodly size--larger than New York,
Pennsylvania, and the New England States together. From end to end its
length is about the distance between Boston and Chicago. Greenland,
Borneo, New Guinea, and Madagascar are each larger. The equator crosses
Sumatra at its central part.

Sumatra is also a possession of the Dutch East Indies, but it is not
very important as compared with Java. Although it is three times as
large as Java, it has scarcely one-tenth the population. There is a
pretty good reason for this. In the first place, the mountainous region
is very rugged and much of it is covered with jungle; therefore, it is
neither habitable nor productive for mankind. In the second place, the
broad plain on the east side of the island is not well adapted to
cultivation; it is cut by deep river valleys in the higher parts, swampy
in the middle part, and covered with water next the coast during a part
of the year.

Rather singularly the lakes--and there are many--are not in the low,
swampy lands; most of them are high in the mountains. What is still more
singular, these lakes are the craters of inactive volcanoes. But
Sumatra, like Java, has many active volcanoes. One of these, Dempo, is
almost constantly active. Every now and then it discharges great
quantities of sulphur gases; these are caught by the rain and, falling
on the cultivated lands, kill pretty nearly everything touched.

In the jungles nature has been very lavish with life. The forests
contain more than four hundred kinds of trees--among them teak, ebony,
camphor, and even good pine. Sumatra is al